Maoists plan string of attacks in poll-bound Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Oct 28 (IANS) Thousands of policemen deployed in the forested interiors of Chhattisgarh’s southern insurgency-hit area are on high alert following intelligence inputs that Maoist rebels have planned a string of deadly attacks ahead of the November assembly polls.In the first phase of the election, 39 seats including 12 in the Maoist terror-hit Bastar region, will go to polls Nov 14 while balloting for the remaining 51 seats take place Nov 20.

“The fresh inputs from Bastar’s interiors suggest that rebels who killed 12 CRPF men on Oct 20 (when the filing of nomination papers began) have planned a string of deadly attacks in Bijapur and Dantewada districts,” a source at the police headquarters here told IANS.

“The attack may be on cops (posted at police outposts in thickly forested hamlets) or on poor civilians (at government-run relief camps) in the two districts,” the source added.

Other police officials said that cops deployed in the Bastar interiors are always on high alert due to fear of Maoist attacks but since the election date is less than a month away, insurgents might attempt deadly attacks on ill-equipped police outposts at largely inaccessible pockets.

Maoists have killed nearly 1,100 people, including 726 civilians, in the Bastar region since 2004.

The massacre of 55 policemen at Rani Bodli police outpost in Bijapur district in March last year was described the biggest ever attack by Maoists in India since the beginning of the insurgency in 1967.